On Writing Fantasy-Romance and Being an Authorpreneur: An Interview with Angela J. Ford

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On Writing Fantasy-Romance and Being an Authorpreneur: An Interview with Angela J. Ford

I discovered the books of Angela J. Ford back in February when I received an arc of ‘Music of the Night’ for a blog tour.

And wow, I was absolutely blown away. The ephemeral setting, the music-based magic system, the steamy romance, and of course the Phantom of the Opera inspiration, all of it culminates into one of the most breathtaking works of fantasy romance that I’ve ever read.

(You can read my full review of the book here).

Even though I received a free digital copy of the book, I went and bought myself a signed paperback of the book, because I just loved it so much. I needed this addition to my dedicated romance bookshelf.

Yeah yeah, my real name is Jen. You saw it here, folks.

(All pictures except for these first two are from Angela Ford’s Instagram and the Instagram for Indie Author Lifestyle. These first two pictures were taken by me).

I’m absolutely in love with the magic and romance of Ford’s books. Opening up one of her books, it’s like falling into a whole new cozy, fantastical world.

I’m also just amazed by how prolific she is and how much she hustles. In addition to having published over 20 novels, Angela is the cohost of the podcast Indie Author Lifestyle with fellow indie Stephanie BwaBwa, she designs website for other indie authors, and she has a whole shop of book boxes and fun merch to coordinate with her books. She is the absolute epitome of an authorpreneur and I’m so excited that she agreed to an interview so we can all learn a little from her!

Without further ado, my interview with Angela J. Ford!

To get us started, would you mind introducing yourself to my readers and telling us a little about your work?

Thanks for reaching out – I’m excited to share more about what goes on behind the scenes. When I was twelve years old I started writing, most inspired by dystopian and classic epic fantasy, including Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia and Redwall.

During my teenage years I had plenty of time to world-build and dream of fantastical worlds, but once I graduated from high school, I decided it was time to face the real world and do something to make real money.

Jokes on me though, because I couldn’t stop writing. Even through college there was something cathartic about returning to my stories and writing. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mindset, in high school I had a rock band. In 2012 I started a blog and later in 2014 started offering freelance marketing services for entrepreneurs. It started as a way to build an extra income stream, but it wasn’t until I started working with a nonfiction author that something clicked for me and I decided to revise and publish my own books.

In 2015, I published my first epic fantasy novel: The Five Warriors. It was the first in a 4-book series of classic epic fantasy and it wore me out. When I got done with the last book, I took a break because immersive epic fantasy is exhausting.

From there I worked on the Legend of the Nameless One (an enemies-to-lovers fantasy adventure), but things really clicked for me when I started working on the Night of the Dark Fae series. It’s fast-paced, gritty, dark and features an anti-hero. It’s certainly more my style. In the past I was more concerned with what readers would think of my books and worried about being raw and out there with my work.

I’d love to hear more about your rock band! What was that experience like?

Being in a rock band is an experience I look back on with fondness. I have four sisters and we’re all musically inclined. In fact, one year my sisters and I secretly bought a drum set and had it delivered to the house. My parents were shocked and surprised at our boldness and so they paid for drum lessons. After that we had band practice every single week and played so loud you could hear the music a block away.

Anyway, we recorded our first album and once we got done paying for mastering and mixing it, we were out of money. So we ran a pre-order campaign and sent everyone who ordered a CD + a pre-order incentive. I think it was a t-shirt, but I honestly can’t remember. We made $1,000 which felt like big money for a bunch of teenagers.

After the CD came out we played gigs, got an honorable mention in a Battle of the Bands contest, played at a local theme park. I remember going into grocery stores and people saying “Oh hey, I know you because of your music.” It was really cool and felt like being a celebrity.

I ended up being in charge of managing the band, getting gigs and working on promos. This was back when MySpace was popular. The experience made me realize there’s a lot that I can do if I go for it versus waiting for a contract from a label.

I did see a love of music reflected in your book ‘Music of the Night.’ Are there any other ways your musical experiences have influenced or shaped your writing?

Yes, honestly music is such a deep part of me. I listen to music when writing and create playlists that inspire me.

Out of all of your books, which one was your favorite to write?

This is like asking a parent who their favorite child is! Honestly, it depends. Every time I wrote a book I learn something new about myself and the process. My top favorites includes:

Pawn

Queen of the Wildwood

Heart of the Raven

Bride of the King

Realm of Rulers

Music of the Night

My favorite write this year though has been Treachery of Water.

Which of your protagonists do you relate to the most?

This is another hard one! I’ll go with:

Rae from Secrets of the Lore Keepers

You are the epitome of an authorpreneur. Not only do you have all of your beautiful books (Music of the Night is amazing! My gosh, I can’t get over that book), but you also create merch and book boxes to go with those books. You have your podcast, Indie Author Lifestyle. You have this whole side hustle building websites for other indie authors. My goodness! You must be so busy. That’s quite an impressive resume.

How do you balance everything? Do you have any tips for staying organized and giving enough time and energy to both the creative/writing side of things and also the business/marketing side of things?

Balance is a great word for it, but I think the most important thing I’ve learned is that I can’t do everything. So I focus on what I can do and set aside time blocks. I only work 5 days a week and dedicate 1-3 hours a day to writing. My other time is spent on marketing and contract/freelance work. It helps to give my brain a break from creating, I think if I wrote for 6-8 hours every single day, I’d burn out fast. However, twice a month I like to set aside an entire day to write 10,000 words.

It must be fun to get a break from writing and collaborate on a podcast. What can you tell us about your podcast Indie Author Lifestyle? How do you come up with ideas for episodes?

It is! I enjoy talking and have endless things to say about writing, marketing and publishing. I looked and there were very few black authors with a podcast focused on being an indie author. I wanted to provide that perspective as well as chat with other authors about their experience. As an indie author I’ve found I learn best from conversation with other authors and swapping strategies and I wanted to do the same on a podcast.

While I came up with the idea, I didn’t want to do it alone, hence my wonderful co-host, Stephanie BwaBwa. There are so many nuances to writing, publishing and marketing coming up with ideas for the podcast is easy. In fact, often we have too many ideas. It could start with a question, personal experience, a new marketing strategy we’re testing or a character development block.

One of the important topics I wanted to cover on the show is lifestyle, eating healthy, balance, budgets, etc. As authors it’s easy to get lost in comparing ourselves to others and I wanted to provide a low key place where authors could listen in and know that it’s okay to take a break, or try something new, or spend more time with family without tossing away their career.

You mainly write fantasy, and a lot of it is fantasy-romance. What draws you to the fantasy and romance genres?

I grew up reading fantasy and fell in love with the genre. Supernatural worlds are fascinating, long with unique weapons, talking creatures and magic. The possibilities are limitless and naturally when I began writing, I leaned toward fantasy. It’s also easier than writing in a modern day world because I don’t have to fact check everything.

At first I was drawn to world-building, but the more I write, the more I enjoy writing character-driven stories and naturally romance is part of that. Romance is something relatable to everyone, at one point in our lives we desire a relationship that goes beyond friendship, and that unique understanding with another person. Love is beautiful and the most powerful emotion in the entire universe.

I couldn’t agree more! I love the romance genre. I think fantasy-romance is one of the best romance subgenres. Romance is already full of magic, then you get to add literal magic to it. As a romance writer and reader, one thing that really bugs me about the bookish community is the stigma surrounding the romance genre. A lot of people view romance as not as serious or literary as other genres.

Have you ever encountered this kind of stigma as a romance writer? Do you think romance will ever be treated as a valid and important genre like any other?

Gosh yes, it’s so frustrating when people brush aside romance like it’s not as good as any other genre when it’s actually the #1 genre to read, aside from thrillers.

I’ve encountered both the romance author stigma and indie author stigma.

What readers/authors/publishers have to remember is that each book is an individual story that appeals to a unique reader.

We aren’t expected to like all the books and all the genres, but we should keep an open mind and know that while a particular genre or style isn’t our preference, there are other readers who will absolutely love it.

Your author bio says you have published over 20 books. That’s amazing! How did you become such a prolific writer? Do you have a specific process in place when you write a new book?

It just sort of happened. Every time I finish a book I get a creative low, and it usually helps if I dive into another writing project right away. I also have what feels like a million ideas, so when I finish a series I just need to wait and another idea will pop up.

Before I write a new book, I like to brainstorm. A few important questions I ask myself are: What are the stakes? What happens at the end? Why would someone want to read this book?

Do you have any tips on plotting or planning a novel?

Since I’m a discovery writer, experience is the best teacher. It is helpful to read books on technique, plotting and planning but it’s easy to get intimidated and never sit down to write. Once I have an idea, I like to write to figure out where it’s going and what will happen next. Writing is different for everyone, and it takes time to find the process that works best for you. Some of my favorite resources on writing include:

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody

Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland

Story Genius and Wired for Story by Lisa Cron

I’m a bit of a hybrid writer myself. I plot but only loosely. So I’m not really a plotter or a pantser. What’s your opinion on pure pantsing? Just sitting down and writing with no plan. Do you think this process can work?

Oh I certainly think it will work, and I’ve done it myself. However, I’ve found that pure pantsing takes a ton of work and energy, it’s easy to write yourself into a corner and you’ll spend most of your time revising. I pantsed a novel for NaNoWriMo in 2015 and it was terrible; I ended up putting away the book for months before I was able to return to it and re-write it. Now, I find it’s helpful to have a structure in place, even if it’s something as small as generic bullet points, to help me to get from A – B – C – the end.

You have such a unique combination of skills, being both creative and marketing/tech savvy. What made you want to help other indie writers with their websites? What would you say are the most common mistakes you see indie writers make with author websites?

Being creative 100% of the time is hard, so I enjoy taking a break to do something that doesn’t require too much brain energy. I began my corporate career working in nonprofit and then worked for a technology company. In the time I was there I worked my way up from customer service to management, which taught me the ins and outs of working with clients, problem solving, digital marketing and websites. I also freelanced with a web designer in San Francisco and we had a lot of fun building websites together, but I found I truly enjoy building websites for authors.

A few of the common mistakes indie authors make include:

Viewing their website as an art portfolio instead of a sales toolNot making their website mobile responsiveAvoiding tracking tools like Google AnalyticsIgnoring SEO Not putting a marketing campaign into place after releasing their website

Paying attention to those things can be the difference between making sales or just having a static website.

For someone who knows nothing about marketing, can you give any tips to create a simple marketing plan for a book launch?

Two of the most important things I’ve done are:

Make friends with authors in your genre and cross promo with themLearn how to run ads on Facebook/Instagram/Amazon to reach your audience

Do you think social media like twitter and facebook is a must for authors? I hear a lot of mixed opinions on this topic.

Honestly? No. I think it helps but it also depends on your marketing budget and goals.

When I studied marketing in college I learned it takes up to 7 touches before someone buys something. That means they need to see it over and over and over again before they make that decision to buy, and it helps if their friends recommend it too.

Word of mouth marketing is still the most powerful, that’s why BookTok and Bookstagram are powerful ways for authors to sell more books. I knew a few authors who have gone viral because of it.

If you can get in front of your audience using ads, you don’t have to be on social media all the time. But if you don’t have a marketing budget, social media is a way to reach readers without spending money.

I know that you used a blog tour for the launch of at least one of your books (that’s how I discovered you!). The indie author community seems a bit torn on blog tours. Some people like them and others say there’s no ROI with a blog tour. What’s your take?

I get this. It depends on what your goals are, sales or visibility?

Again, this goes back to the 7-touches rule and that’s why I decided to do a blog tour. It is very hard to tell if it’s effective or not because I like to track everything. With a blog tour I’m not sure how many views and link clicks each blog post gets, or if people are just interested in entering the giveaway.

Running tours on Instagram is easier because I can see people liking, commenting and sharing in real time and they can buy from my shop without leaving Instagram. It makes it easier to calculate ROI.

However, I decided that blog tours and Bookstagram tours are for visibility and the sales will come later (hopefully). I don’t mind investing to help reach new readers and to tap into the word of mouth marketing.

I always end interviews with some fun questions:

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

New Zealand. I fell in love with it when Lord of the Rings came out, and around that time one of my friends went out there for 3 months and loved it. I’d love to spend some time out there.

What’s your all-time favorite band or song?

I love The Killers but I don’t have a favorite song, it depends on my mood.

What is your favorite way to spend a lazy day?

Hanging out with my husband, he’s hilarious and makes me laugh so hard. I love it when we make a fire, sit outside and just enjoy life. Together.